Recently, a membrane-based water treatment process has been recognized as an extensively used process, because it ensures reliable water quality, reduces land area required, offers easy operations and automation of operations, etc. Despite such advantages, the biggest problem rising from the membrane-based water treatment process is reduced membrane permeability due to membrane fouling, which subsequently increases operational costs. As a result, various alternative ways for preventing membrane contamination such as periodic backwashing, chemical washing, etc. have been proposed. Although a wide variety of separation membranes, mostly made of polymers, with improved chemical resistance and pollution resistance have traditionally been used, a full recovery still cannot be expected even through recovery washing after the occurrence of fouling.
Electrolysis is a technique that electrochemically oxidizes or reduces contaminants in water by applying electric energy to waste water containing inorganic or organic contaminants from outside. Also, colloidal materials, which are negatively charged, are electrically neutralized during electrolysis, leading to coagulation reaction of the materials. OH radicals are formed from the anode, and these radicals play a role in oxidizing organic matter in water, whereas the cathode may accept electrons, which may form hydrogen by reduction of proton.
Meanwhile, a powder metallurgy process is advantageous in that powdered raw materials are made into a desired shape, which are then subject to sintering heat treatment at a temperature equal to or below the melting point thereof to obtain products, thereby enabling processing of metal materials with high melting points, and manufacturing porous materials or composite materials. Also, the process is known to be cost effective compared to other metallurgy processes with regard to mass production. The pores and porosity of materials may be controlled depending on applied pressure, pressing time, sintering temperature and conditions, and the like.
Under these circumstances, the present inventors have made efforts to manufacture separation membrane made of new materials which can enhance the membrane performance by reducing membrane fouling during water treatment and replace the separation membranes made of polymer materials, and as a result, powders, made of metal or non-metal, which shows electrical conductivity were compressed to form a shape, and were subsequently sintered under an oxygen-free condition to manufacture separation membrane for water treatment which can improve water permeability and removal efficiency of organic matter while applying electricity during water treatment, thereby completing the present invention.